I finished my half marathon this morning! Not only did I survive, but I finished over a minute faster than I'd trained for. My goal was to finish in under three hours. My training pace would have me finishing in about 2:45, but I finished in 2:43:44, which is especially impressive when you factor in that it took me about three minutes just to get up to the start line once the horn blew, because it was so crammed with people and I didn't even have room to start running until I was a good 25 yards past the start line. So here's all the proof you've been waiting for:

Right before the start... it was only 35 degrees out, so I wore the jacket until the last possible second, then handed it off to my husband.

"Running" down the chute to the finish line. I was barely moving at this point....

Almost there....

I made it!!!

Happy, despite being near death. Showing off my metal and the flowers my sister-in-law brought me.

At lunch with my husband and some friends after I survived the race. Wearing my race shirt and showing off my metal again.

Here's a link to a little video of the start and finish:

http://www.bariatricpal.com/gallery/image/89502-half-marathon-video/

That's amazing!! Congratulations!

A truly awesome accomplishment! Good for you!! I think you've earned a spa day to recover...

Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

Congratulations! So happy you accomplished this task in less time than your training time. I can understand the emotional feeling at the end. I am sure when I do my bike challenge I will have the same feelings. Sounds like you should have some pampering time before you begin training for the next one. Thanks for sharing the pictures and video that was awesome!

Congratulations!!!!! You rock!

You are a fearless warrior!

Thanks for sharing your experience from training to completion. Did you ever imagine you would be running half to full marathon before surgery?

Check the half marathon off your bucket list. Congratulations!

Awesome.

Simply awesome.

You continue to impress and inspire !!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats girl!!!!!!

Phenomenal! that is an amazing accomplishment!

Thanks for sharing your experience from training to completion. Did you ever imagine you would be running half to full marathon before surgery?

Before surgery I had done Couch to 5k a couple of times in previous weight loss attempts. I loved the idea of being a runner, especially because I had never run until I was in my 30's and was TERRIBLE at running as a child. I maybe in my wildest dreams had thought of doing a half or full marathon, but honestly a 5k was really hard. I thought it would be crazy to even do a 10k! So when I got this wild hair to do a half marathon, I had pretty low expectations of myself. So glad to have proved myself wrong!

Yay! Congrats! All of the hard work paid off and you also looked fantastic crossing the finish line! I usually look like I'm going to die and you looked all in-shape and athletic, lol. A half marathon is a huge accomplishment- good for you!

Yay! Congrats! All of the hard work paid off and you also looked fantastic crossing the finish line! I usually look like I'm going to die and you looked all in-shape and athletic, lol. A half marathon is a huge accomplishment- good for you!

I certainly FELT like I was going to die. I was moving at a snail's pace. I was only "running" by the most generous definition of the word at that point.

Great job! Congratulations!!!

Huge, big, wonderful congratulations to you! That is so fantastic! I just finished my first 5k, so a half marathon is something that I can still only fathom. On my 5k race I did experience the same thing you did with the faster time. Something about the adrenaline in the moment just made me go that bit quicker, I think. I have needed to get motivation back after finishing my race and this definitely did that for me, so thank you so much for sharing!

​I have to admit, I got a little teary eyed after reading your post. Congratulations, I am so proud of you! @@JamieLogical, you are in inspiration!

Congrats! What a huge accomplishment. It was your "guide to running" post a couple weeks back that finally pushed me to start the Couch to 5k program. You're an inspiration!